19TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (A)

At once Jesus spoke to them, “Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid.”

Mt 14:22-33

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After he had fed the people, Jesus made the disciples get into a boat and precede him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds.

In Jn 6 the crowds wanted to make Jesus King by force. Jesus did not want his disciples to get that idea into their heads. So he sent them away.

Parents need to keep watch over their children against bad influence. That usually means bad barkada, bad reading materials and bad videos.

Do something more positive. (1) Get to know the barkada of your children. Provide opportunities for them to visit your home. (2) Form the conscience of your children. Discuss the values and counter-values in the news, TV and movies.

After doing so, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray.

WE usually think of prayer as asking God for this or for that. But prayer is more than that. In this particular episode, we might consider this as a bonding time that Jesus set aside for his Father and himself. We can also turn our prayer time into a time for bonding with God.

Meanwhile the boat, already a few miles offshore, was being tossed about by the waves, for the wind was against it.

Take note that this is not a storm.

During the fourth watch of the night, he came toward them walking on the sea. When the disciples saw him walking on the sea they were terrified. “It is a ghost,” they said, and they cried out in fear.

Jesus was walking toward them because he wanted to get into the boat. Even if he could walk on the water, the distance to the other side was so big that it was more convenient to ride on the boat.

The disciples were naturally frightened. It was still dark. They could not possibly recognize Jesus. You also would be frightened if you saw something moving towards you over the waters.

At once Jesus spoke to them, “Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid.”

Someone counted 365 instances when the words “do not be afraid” were uttered in the Bible. That means for every day of the year God reassures us: “Do not be afraid because I will be with you throughout this day.”

Peter said to him in reply, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.”

This was an act of faith in Jesus. Peter believed that he could also walk on the water if Jesus gave him the permission. And in fact, he was able to walk on the water. The bible says: “Peter got out of the boat and began to walk on the water toward Jesus.”

But something went wrong. He began to be afraid. And he began to sink. Fear meant a weakening of faith. And with a weakening of faith, he lost the power to walk on the water. In fact Jesus scolded Peter: “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”

Something went wrong. What went wrong? The bible says: “But when he saw how strong the wind was he became frightened.” That meant that he turned his gaze away from Jesus and looked at the wind and waves. As long as we keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, as long as we remain aware of the presence of Jesus, we shall feel confident and unafraid. Once we forget Jesus, we shall be overcome by doubts and fear. But when that happens, we can still cry out with Peter: “Lord, save me!”

Immediately Jesus stretched out his hand and caught Peter.

And as Jesus rescued Peter, so Jesus will rescue us.

Let us bring with us into our daily lives two quotations from today’s Gospel. When things go wrong during the day, let us visualize Jesus telling us: “Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid.” And when fears and self-doubt assail us,  let fix our eyes on Jesus and cry out to him: “Lord, save me!”